George Tyndale: Beauty pageants for kids should be banned

IN traditional fairy tales, the princess is always beautiful, elegantly dressed and youthful.

IN traditional fairy tales, the princess is always beautiful, elegantly dressed and youthful.

She is aged in her late teens, possibly early 20s. She is a young woman, rather than a young girl, so there is no ambiguity about her sexual maturity.

Naturally, the issue of sexual relations is never made explicit. Fairy tales are concerned with romantic love, not matters of the flesh.

No-one, however, would be surprised if the princess and her prince privately engaged in an intimate clinch once the sun has set on their castle. Otherwise there would be no more princes and princesses for the Hollywood motion picture sequel.

But today, modesty and childhood innocence have gone out of the window.

The notion of the dreamy fairy tale princess has turned into a sexualised nightmare. The princess is exploited for cheap publicity and a quick buck by her pushy parents.

Take the Miss Mini Princess UK competition, which is being held in Leicester next month. This hideous kiddy pageant is open to girls aged from babies up to the grand old age of 13.

There is nothing wrong with bonny baby competitions, which have been a staple of family newspapers for generations. But the Miss Mini Princess event is of a very different, darker order.

It takes its inspiration from US child beauty pageants, which tells you everything you need to know about the organisers’ views on morality and taste.

The real problems begin with the so-called Little Princess category, which is for two and three year-olds.

In this group, young girls who are barely out of nappies will be encouraged to parade in public in bikini-style outfits and high heels.

There will be liberal applications of fake tan and make-up.

This parade of shame will be repeated, and no doubt made even more inappropriately sexually provocative, for Petite Princesses (four to six year-olds), Little Miss Princesses (seven to 10 year-olds) and Pre-Teen Princesses (11 to 13-year olds).

Pre-Teen Princesses, for goodness’ sake! Even the name of it sounds like a paedophile website.

One mother, asked to defend allowing her three year-old to walk about in skimpy swimwear, answered: “Little girls wear bikinis on the beach every day, so I don’t see what the difference is between that and a sparkly two-piece for a pageant.”

Why on earth cannot this woman see the difference?

The difference is that this little girl will no doubt be plastered in thick make-up, her lips enhanced by lipstick and gloss before being pushed into the spotlight and ogled by an audience.

The three-year-old may not object to this gross exploitation – but that’s because she’s three.

Three-year-olds lack the maturity to make the right decisions when it comes to ordering their dinner. So how can they be expected to come to a sensible, rational decision about flouncing about in revealing clothing? Especially when mummy says it will make her so proud.

The parents who put their children forward for contests like Miss Mini Princess hope that their daughters will fulfil their own warped dreams of fame and stardom.

Last week, I wrote in this column about the dangers of allowing children to have unsupervised use of social networking sites such as Facebook. I also touched on the rapid rise of the dangerous fad for sexting, in which youngsters send sexual images of themselves via mobile phones.

Here, with shameless child flesh pageants, we have parents actively encouraging their children to become involved in provocative behaviour and ape the louche lifestyle of celebrity “idols” such as Katie Price.

One mum, who says she isn’t a “prude,” has entered her daughter for Miss Mini Princess, suggesting her girl has got what it takes to be a topless glamour girl. The child concerned is nine.

Yes, nine.

“Karen is a stunning girl,” the mother said. “If she wanted to model later in life, we believe experience in a pageant like this will help develop her confidence and pave a professional career path.”

[I have changed the girl’s name because I don’t think “Karen” should be subjected to publicity – although her mother is happy to go on the record and expose her child to gawping eyes.]

The pageant business was memorably sent up in the film Little Miss Sunshine, in which a seven-year-old wreaks havoc at a competition in California. But it appears that many Americans – and many Brits – didn’t get the joke, and never will.

Leicester’s very own carnival of distaste will follow in the size two footsteps of tacky US pageants popularised by the horrific show Toddlers and Tiaras. In our own country, we have had the spectacle of spray-tanned child brides on primetime TV in Big Fat Gypsy Weddings.

You have to wonder where it will all end.

But in a nation where mothers promote nude modelling as a future career option for nine year-olds, maybe it’s better not to ask.

Of course, we shouldn’t have to speculate on the implications of competitions such as Miss Mini Princess because such contests shouldn’t be permitted to take place. They should be outlawed.

The French, from whom we generally have little to learn, are considering banning pageants on the grounds of common decency.

There is widespread concern across the Channel about the vile sexualisation of children. Legislation in France would make it illegal for under-16s to take part in beauty parades.

Personally, I would be happier with a ban of under-18s but the French proposal would go some way to cracking down on the worst excess of kiddy pageants.

Of course, it would be interesting if a member of the public were to make a complaint to Leicestershire Police about the upcoming Miss Mini Princess contest on the grounds that it risks outraging public decency.

Such an allegation would merit investigation. It’s hard to think of many things, short of the outright promotion of child pornography and criminal exploitation, that is as morally outrageous as allowing little girls to flaunt their young bodies in catwalk style.

The fact that the girls will be parading in revealing clothes with their parents’ consent is irrelevant.

By their actions, these parents have proved themselves incapable of acting responsibly.

* Is your daughter competing in the Miss Mini Princess pageant? Email George.Tyndale@trinitymirror.com and try to defend the indefensible.